…art without a head like a poem with no title?

…new book found its way into my hands this morning. Daniel Scott Tysdal’s first book of poetry is gorgeous, interesting and worth a thorough read. Congrats Dan!

…the past month I’ve been enveloped in art. Today my copy of Matthew Collings This is Modern Art arrived in the mail, and tonight, tired of writing poetry, I sneezed my way to the tv where I caught How Art Made the World on PBS. What is interesting about life is how what I’m doing is mirrored in what is around me. The PBS show began with the Venus of Willendorf, an iconic figurine found in Austria near the Danube river. Ironically, I’ve been reading Camille Paglia’s Sexual Personae which deals with art history, literature, and gender. She also begins with the Venus. Needless to say, I’m finding the differing theories of our need for art fascinating and consuming.

…of poet Ted Hughes plopped into conversations more than once today. I thought this might be of some significance, some cosmic sign from another realm, or not. Or maybe it was a part of the thought process that nibbled at my brain after another of the now seemingly bi-monthly Thursday morning poetic conversations–which are stimulating by the way– that made me seek him. I don’t own any Ted Hughes, and I don’t know why.

…to say my copy of Happily is on its way to my mailbox–of course, accompanied by 3 other lovely books I’ve always longed for, but never until soon, owned. Thanks Mark for the recommendation.

…at 10,080 minutes of fame. No doubt, I’ve been bitten by the “bug”.

In film noir style, Brick delivers a sharp, sometimes darkly comical, and often witty modern version of the detective story. The plot swiftly lures the audience through quick-cuts, flashbacks, pointed angles and a sturdy lead character in the loner Brendan Frye (Joe Gordon-Levitt—3rd Rock From the Sun’s Tommy). Brick is an intensely intertwined tale that pulls the audience easily along, even stopping occasionally to have some pun/fun along the way.

Like those lead males that came before him, Gordon-Levitt delivers the goods to the audience. Many of Brendan’s lines are reminiscent of Sam Spade (Bogart fashioned), but sometimes the delivery of the lines by Gordon-Levitt is incoherent. The one-liners, while important to a mirroring of style, aren’t really that important to the tale, although the humour and wit found in them is worth hearing. The movie’s modern cinematic touches, while often comedic in the film noir style—The Pin’s mother proved great comedic relief—appear regenerated in the modern film by their lack of modernization. My teenager, who tagged along for the show, thought the teenage world in the film rather unrealistic; there were no emails and computers, very few cell phones, and as she was quick to point out after the show (maybe too much so), no one went to classes at school.

Some of the elements that made a classic noir film are missing, such as the black and white shadowy images, and a multitude of gloomy night scenes, while others are noticeably present and effective, not so much in the expressionist manner, but effective at representing the eye-level view of Brendan. I enjoyed the film, and would really love a chance to see it again to gather in more of the cinematic themes/metaphor that ran throughout the film—such as the sound of running water, the sun, the shoes.

Tonight I’m watching another film, hopefully as interesting: A Good Woman (it was out on video afterall).

…here is a Leonard Nimoy music video. Too funny. (I’ve decided to put the link here instead of the screen as it blows the sidebar in IE).

…I watched tv, for something completely different. I don’t watch much tv, but I was lazy and gave in to it. The most fascinating thing I saw last night was a tv program on the amazing musical ability of a woman with Williams Syndrome. Gloria Lenhoff has perfect pitch, sings in a multitude of languages, and remembers each and every song, but has trouble with basic math.

It must have left an impression on me, as my dreams last night were feral; this morning I’m still rather fuzzy. I’m drinking my coffee mulling over the meaning of two dreams, the two that I best remember from last night–or early this morning–and wondering, because both dreams dealt with the physical body, if what I was watching crept in to the realm of dreaming, or if I should really pay attention to my physical body, my life, and my surroundings. Hmmmm.

…we’re going to see the movie Brick on Saturday night at 9 pm at the RPL, if anyone is interested in tagging along, let me know.